Changing and adding transponders to a satellite

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Changing and adding transponders to a satellite

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grahamlthompson

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malcolm_c - 2 hours ago »
I have tried this again. The behaviour appears that only it only retains 1 further user defined transponder and the information on the others is lost. This can be seen when returning to the transponder list and only 1 new is included. This appears a limitation of the implementation.
Hence my question if anyone is aware where this information is held and if it can be changed manually.

Best place to ask is in the CF thread at AV Forums. There is already a CF package that can display the non-freesat channel database but currently no way of editing the data and uploading back to the Foxsat. Not sure if this is possible, it took a while to figure out how to upload recording schedule changes from a computer.

| Tue 31 Mar 2015 10:54:15 #11 |
malcolm_c

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I have posted CF in AV forum.

I have also tried to create a user defined satellite but it appears to forget all transponder information across a reboot.

I am sure Humax can do better than this but it does not give much confidence for using their boxes outside the narrow market they produce and they do little or no testing. Nor is their good support.

| Tue 31 Mar 2015 16:07:16 #12 |
grahamlthompson

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malcolm_c - 16 minutes ago »
I have posted CF in AV forum.
I have also tried to create a user defined satellite but it appears to forget all transponder information across a reboot.
I am sure Humax can do better than this but it does not give much confidence for using their boxes outside the narrow market they produce and they do little or no testing. Nor is their good support.

The clue is the box is a Freesat+ box. Any support for non-freesat is a bonus. The basic requirement is view only so this box has way better support for non-freesat than any other freesat pvr.

Firmware support for the box was restricted to maintenance issues required to support it's primary function.

Have a look at the other freesat boxes from this era, most are in land fill sites by now.

Humax do make very good generic fta pvrs that fully support all that you want, expecting them to commit resources for a obsolete box released in 2008 designed purely as a Freesat+ box is totally unrealistic.

I will remind you again that yours is the only post I have seen that reports this issue.

With an attitude like yours I wouldn't expect anyone to try and help further.

It may be possible for the Custom Firmware gurus to find out how to upload new non-freesat data, but it will take a lot of time and effort for a user base of 1 person.

| Tue 31 Mar 2015 16:32:10 #13 |
malcolm_c

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I have spent hours on this and can only report my observations.

There are some excellent devices available by other manufacturers. However if a manufacturer produces a sat receiver with "TurkSat", then I ought to have some confidence that it at least has the correct parameters. And if it gives a function for "user defined" then it should save the data I enter and not lose it. It is not asking much that it behaves correctly.

It is a pity to throw good hardware in the skip, especially with a very nicely designed custom firmware.

I should be grateful if anyone has the information on the file that stores the transponder data so that it might be amended.

| Tue 31 Mar 2015 18:16:07 #14 |
grahamlthompson

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malcolm_c - 1 minute ago »
I have spent hours on this and can only report my observations.
There are some excellent devices available by other manufacturers. However if a manufacturer produces a sat receiver with "TurkSat", then I ought to have some confidence that it at least has the correct parameters. And if it gives a function for "user defined" then it should save the data I enter and not lose it. It is not asking much that it behaves correctly.
It is a pity to throw good hardware in the skip, especially with a very nicely designed custom firmware.
I should be grateful if anyone has the information on the file that stores the transponder data so that it might be amended.

Interested which excellent device by other manufacturers is also Freesat+ certified. The custom firmware is nothing to do with Humax and certainly would not be supported by them.

It does not modify the propriety Humax settop application which is why the UI you see on a TV is unaltered.

| Tue 31 Mar 2015 18:19:33 #15 |
malcolm_c

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Dear Graham

I think you misunderstand.

The FoxSat HDR has been a great piece of kit for the time that I have used it. It gives excellent pictures for HD and upscaled SD. I obtained a full resolution tv screen in order to benefit from its quality. I think the work that some have done on the custom firmware is excellent and a model for commercial products to follow. It has all the features that I could imagine.

You therefore have to understand my disappointment that a seemingly inoccuous piece of code "save transponder" fails to work as expected, coupled with the transponder information of the one other satellite that I require being completely wrong.

Humax UK have made every effort to provide me with the information on accessing the antenna settings, and they have enquired and determined that there is a bug in the code. They put me in touch with the forum on Custom Firmware in the hope that this might give a workaround or someone might have the information to do a workaround. Likewise they have been prompt to provide other assistance to questions (eg why does the volume not work on HD channels).

It is a pity that there is not the information available to allow the "simple" change in information to correct the settings for TurkSat to allow it to be used. Cursory examinations shows they are probably compiled into the settop application (at least this application holds the strings for the names of the satellites). Likely the settings are in binary somewhere within the image, but it is not easy to determine their location, as their format is unknown.

If anyone has ideas I would be pleased to receive.

| Thu 2 Apr 2015 10:13:19 #16 |
grahamlthompson

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malcolm_c - 26 minutes ago »
. Cursory examinations shows they are probably compiled into the settop application (at least this application holds the strings for the names of the satellites). Likely the settings are in binary somewhere within the image, but it is not easy to determine their location, as their format is unknown.
If anyone has ideas I would be pleased to receive.

That's the root of the problem. All the work done for the Custom Firmware releases and associated packages has not changed the propriety Linux code forming the settop app or directly altered any data contained within it. To do so may well be a breach of copyright. Where the CF is able to add data like for example programme schedule changes made externally from the UI, it has been done by editing data files held externally and persuading the box to reload this data after a reboot. If the data was held in a separate and accessible file then there is a good chance it could be sorted. However as you have found it doesn't seem to be the case. If Raydon or AF123 reads this they could give a much more detailed idea as to this being in any way possible.

I can answer the one about volume not working on HD channels, it's down to the ac3 audio output by default. As I understand it to change the volume at source requires the ac3 data stream to be re-coded. In an AV amplifier with suitable decoding the volume is controlled at the analog audio output part of the process. You can restore volume control by changing the audio output option in the Settings - Picture and Sound - Digital Audio Out - Stereo. This causes the box to output pcm stereo as it does for SD channels using MP2 audio.

| Thu 2 Apr 2015 10:50:10 #17 |
Devonian

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I have the Humax installed in Spain and am experiencing the same problem in adding new transponders to the freesat scan list, in fact worse, as I can't add even one transponder. I also see that some of the listed transponder frequencies differ from the Lyngsat frequencies by 1. The problem is that there are new sky FTA transponders being added as more stations are now using the Ku european beams.

Although the design might be old I purchased the receiver from Humax less than two years ago and the front label says Sky so I would expect to be able to receive all Sky transmissions.

Has this fault always been present or would it be possible to load an earlier release?

In any case I would expect the receiver to scan all possible frequencies when in Manual scan mode.

Any assistance would be welcome.

| Thu 4 Jun 2015 19:07:14 #18 |
grahamlthompson

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A difference of 1 or more in the frequency is insignificant. It's just down to rounding. It will lock on to the correct carrier. Have you tried enabling the network scan option ?

If you try adding a new transponder with such a tiny difference it will presumably not add it because it's already in the database.

The front label say SKY - there is no mention of Sky on mine nor would it be legal if it did. It's a Freesat+ box and has the Freesat epg, not the sky epg. Are you sure you have a Foxsat-hdr ?

Sky doesn't own any transponders, they rent them like any other broadcaster for there own channels like say the BBC. Sky has vey few fta channels, the only one that is available on a Freesat box is Sky SD News.

The reason you losing channels is because the broadcasters are moving channels from the Pan European transponders remaining on Eurobird 1 (28.5E) to UK spot beams from SES Astra satellites at 28.2E. This is nothing to do with you using a Humax box, your dish simply isn't large enough.

| Thu 4 Jun 2015 19:11:11 #19 |
grahamlthompson

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Incidentally reading your post again, you cannot add transponders to the freesat scan list. The freesat database is updated automatically from the freesat home transponder (it's not editable by a user). The manual tune capability is for use when the box is being used as a generic free to air receiver (no epg but now and next). If you are losing channels there is two possible reasons.

You can't get the home transponder (it appears to have been on low power for several days, as of this morning it's better than it has ever been)

Or (the most likely one) is that the your database is correct but the channels are now on a UK Spot beam which you can't get.

Latest batch to move - see here

https://myhumax.org/forum/topic/update-log-for-recordwatch-apps/page/48#post-37838

| Thu 4 Jun 2015 20:59:04 #20 |